Making House Calls in the Amazon
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ON CALL | 1 ® WORLD MEDICAL MISSION FALL 2018 ON CALL ALSO INSIDE POST-RESIDENCY PROGRAM CLASS OF 2018 MAKING HOUSE CALLS IN THE AMAZON A MINISTRY of SAMARITAN’S PURSE® INSIDE2 | ON CALL WORLD MEDICAL MISSION - A Ministry of Samaritan’s Purse * BLOG * Page MAKING HOUSE CALLS IN THE AMAZON ABOVE: These children welcomed the Ruth Bell riverboat’s crew to their remote 24 village in Bolivia’s Amazon basin. Trusting God’s 6 Unseen Hand Total dependence on God is the first lesson a veteran surgeon learned on the mission field. SHINING JESUS’ LIGHT A physician’s young daughter looks to God and her family for the strength to battle a serious 12 illness. ON CALL | 3 CALLED TO SERVE POST-RESIDENCY PROGRAM 16 CLASS OF 2018 Answering 29 the Call calling A word from World Medical Mission for co-founder, Dr. Richard Furman help THANK 36 YOU for WHERE IS GOD CALLING YOU? serving Look at the latest “Calling for Help” to see which mission hospitals need WE WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE and thank the volunteers in your specialty. men and women who volunteered at 30 mission hospitals worldwide. COVER PHOTO: The Ruth Bell brings doctors and dentists to medically underserved communities along the Mamoré River. World Medical Mission assists evangelical mission hospitals SAMARITAN’S PURSE HEADQUARTERS and clinics by sending Christian medical professionals P.O. Box 3000 • Boone, NC 28607 • (828) 262-1980 as volunteers, and by providing equipment, supplies, ©2018 Samaritan's Purse. All rights reserved. and other resources that help them treat patients in the samaritanspurse.org/wmm Name of the Great Physician. WorldMed 4 | ON CALL WORLD MEDICAL MISSION - A Ministry of Samaritan’s Purse DEAR FRIEND MANY DOCTORS who are new to the world of medical missionary service want to know: “What can I do?” That’s the initial question Dr. Ed Fitzgerald, a retired cardiothoracic surgeon from Indiana, asked 12 years ago when he was presented with an opportunity to go on a medical mission trip (look for his story on page 6). Yes, he was an expert in his specialized field. But serving in a West Africa mission hospital would involve many new challenges, including performing general surgeries he had not done since residency training. The prospect was both exciting and unnerving. Dr. Fitzgerald would have to rely on God in a deeper way than he ever had before. I am so glad that this gifted Christian surgeon—and thousands of other healthcare professionals like him—have taken that bold step of faith and followed the Lord’s call to serve overseas with World Medical Mission. Through their skills and compassion, the Lord has saved lives and patients have experienced spiritual rebirth through Jesus Christ. The 14 Post-Residency Program physicians who were commissioned this summer also add a spark of enthusiasm, fresh energy, and their own unique talents to our World Medical Mission family as they prepare for service as career missionaries. The two-year mentorship program was launched in 2004. Since then, we praise God for the more than 180 men and women who have completed their training and have helped supply doctors and dentists to 34 hospitals in 31 countries. If you are asking yourself what you can do on the mission field, my response is “a lot.” As Jesus told His disciples, “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest” (John 4:35, NKJV). May God abundantly bless your service in His Name. Sincerely, Franklin Graham President, Samaritan’s Purse ON CALL | 5 Dr. Ed Fitzgerald checks on one of his patients at a hospital in Togo. The surgeon began volunteering with World Medical Mission 12 years ago. 6 | ON CALL WORLD MEDICAL MISSION - A Ministry of Samaritan’s Purse Trusting God’s Unseen Hand A veteran surgeon reflects on more than a decade of service and God’s work in West Africa through World Medical Mission. Togo (title to come) ON CALL | 7 Trusting God’s Unseen Hand 8 | ON CALL WORLD MEDICAL MISSION - A Ministry of Samaritan’s Purse or the past 12 years, Dr. Ed Fitzgerald his life would have a greater purpose Fhas made the trip to Karolyn than long periods of leisure on the golf Kempton Memorial Christian Hospital course. (Hopital Baptiste Biblique) in Adéta, He knew God wasn’t finished using Togo, understanding the sobering him and his unique skills, but he also realities of practicing medicine in a wondered what it might look like to developing country. Illness and injury continue serving in the medical field. that are survivable in North America Cardiothoracic surgeons aren’t in high often can mean a grim prognosis in demand in less-developed countries, West Africa—even with the excellent which is where he felt God calling him. care provided by the hospital and the He got an answer at church, when a surgical team. surgeon friend invited him to join a trip “We do what we can. We provide the overseas. “He invited me to join him best care we can with what we have as an assistant surgeon in West Africa,” here,” Fitzgerald said. “We realize Jesus is Fitzgerald said. “In Togo.” the Great Physician. God has given what But Fitzgerald was thrown into He’s given us, and He’s in control.” practicing general surgery on his The challenges of serving as a own much more quickly than he had surgeon in Togo have taught him a expected. Another surgeon had fallen ill greater dependence on God and the and couldn’t make the trip. They asked opportunity he has to point people to Fitzgerald if he could come early and Christ in the midst of their crisis. fill in. In fact, these obstacles are part of “I looked at my schedule and I had what compelled Fitzgerald to come golf, Bible study, bike riding.” he said. to Togo in the first place and have “Those didn’t seem all that important drawn him back year after year. “A lot so I agreed to come over early. I got out of people think that we come over my old surgical textbooks and started here because it makes us feel good. cramming for what I might find.” “It’s pretty humbling to realize how little I know and it’s amazing to see how much God can do with the little knowledge I have.” Because we get to do surgery,” he said. It had been three decades since “But I come here because I fell in love Fitzgerald had done his requisite with the people. I fell in love with the rotation in general surgery, but he hospital.” trusted God as he set off in 2007 for Togo. Since then he has returned every What Can I Do? year, often multiple times per year, to At the end of his 30-year career as a help meet vast needs in Jesus’ Name. cardiothoracic surgeon in Indianapolis, During that time God has used Fitzgerald knew the next season of Fitzgerald’s skill to save many lives, and In God’s Hands ON CALL | 9 He has given the veteran surgeon is back home raising awareness Fitzgerald enjoys the opportunity to lead patients and support for the facility. mentoring and their families to faith in Fitzgerald also finds ways to young medical Jesus Christ. But God has also gather and ship the equipment workers. strengthened Fitzgerald’s own and supplies the hospital so faith and sense of dependency as desperately needs. he treats critically ill Togolese. “One of the things I love “When you’re a physician about coming over here is here, you realize you’re not the you find out what the hospital ultimate authority and you can’t needs, and then you go back take care of people without to the United States and find God’s help,” he said. “Here, death people who can provide it. You is an everyday occurrence and put it together and get it over you have to be able to accept here so they can give better that you’ve done what you can care to the patients,” he said. and it’s up to God now.” What he is not able to send over on a container ship, Year-Round Service Fitzgerald will carry in his own As a World Medical Mission luggage. He chuckles as he volunteer, Fitzgerald has describes some of the puzzled discovered a multitude of expressions from Togolese opportunities to strengthen the customs agents as they discover work in Togo—both overseas a tractor part he carried in and stateside. When he is not his suitcase for the hospital serving on the ground as a maintenance crew or the strange surgeon at Karolyn Kempton tubes and contraptions he has Memorial Christian Hospital, he brought for the medical staff. 10 | ON CALL WORLD MEDICAL MISSION - A Ministry of Samaritan’s Purse TOP: Patients gather in line early in the morning to see a doctor. RIGHT: Fitzgerald prepares to perform surgery at Karolyn Kempton Memorial Christian Hospital. BELOW: Camaraderie provides good medicine during a lighthearted conversation with staff. Trusting God’s Unseen Hand ON CALL | 11 Karolyn “I come here because I fell Kempton Memorial in love with the people. I fell Christian Hospital is in love with the hospital.” a 40-bed facility that also provides outpatient and prenatal services. Legacy and who plan to follow in his Among the things that excite footsteps by serving there. Fitzgerald most about serving is Reflecting on all that he has the legacy he is seeing develop experienced over the past 12 both at the hospital and in his years, Fitzgerald’s greatest joy is own family.